The Little Things

'The Little Things' by Hope Nwani. is a song that conveys a strong message about letting God into the minute details of our lives and it's something the Holy Spirit has been teaching me to practice and I believe all believers should also.

The inception of my Christian walk started with a conversation that ensued between my friend and I. This was the day my walk with God began, as it was the first intentional step I took; although I knew not what I was doing hehe. 

Over a phone call, my friend was explaining the basics of Christianity to me and as she continued to explain, I cut her off and I said to her...

Me: but I'm confused! 😕 what God!? I dont know who He is or if He exists!
Her: (she chuckled and said) Smith, it is okay that you do not know who He is. I want you to do something for me.
Me: (I thought to myself, why is this one chuckling when I'm the most confused I've ever been? But I answered) okay, what's that?
Her: get two chairs, one for you and one for Jesus. Ask Him to come to sit with you, introduce yourself to Him and just have a conversation with Him

me: what do I say?

Her: everything you've told me...

After the call ended, I walked back inside with mixed feelings of excitement and a big 'huh!?' wondering what would happen when I do what my friend instructed me to. It was one of those moments where I hoped Jesus would appear to me (He didn't, but it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship).

When I got inside, I looked around and took a chair from the corner for Jesus. I cleaned it a bit, sat opposite Him and said 'hello Jesus, I don't know who you are but I'm Ebube and it's nice to meet you...' I talked to Jesus like I was talking to my friend and that’s the first dimension of God I got to know; 'friend'. I would tell Him everything and anything, whatever I was thinking about or feeling. I was able to tell Him things I could not even say to myself. Sometimes, I wondered whether I was talking too much and I was bothering Him, but in those moments, He would encourage me to continue speaking.

However, there was a period when my relationship with Him was rocky and it was hard conversing with Him the way I used to; I would either convince myself that He would not want to hear from me or tell myself that what I want to say is not important, so why bother Him? But in those moments, He would remind me of 1Peter 5:7 and gradually, He helped me to redevelop talking to Him about everything.

Months later (this year actually 😂) on my way home, I was talking to God about getting a car (don't ask why😭 plus if you know me, you know I like cars, because why not?) 😭 and I was so passionate about it; the type, build, the specs I'd want it to have and what not. As I continued talking, I started to feel like I was doing to much (day dreaming about something that was not so feasible at the time. I mean don't get me wrong, there's nothing impossible for God to do.) so I stopped, told myself that it wasn't important and as I was trudging home gloomily because I couldn't share it with Him, the Holy Spirit asked me 'why did you stop talking?', to which I responded 'I don't want to keep harping on about a car I'm not getting anytime soon' and He said to me: 'Ebube, if you do not tell me about it, you'll end up telling the devil about it'. Essentially saying; if I don't confide in Him, I'll confide in sin (which is true).

I was reminded that He cares about the little things that may seem insignificant to us. He wants to hear from you, He wants you to talk to Him, tell Him about your dreams, hopes, fears, that person you are crushing on😉, the thing you're struggling with. You can be honest, gist with Him. With God there's no 'let me hide this part of me from Him, it's too dirty'.

I need you to know that even if the thing you are telling God is wrong and a sin, as long as you submit it to Him, He will correct and change your heart. Pastor Chingtok... (for those that don't know him, Pastor Chingtok Ishaku is the founder and senior pastor of the God Life Assembly Intl. and I highly recommend his sermons). I digress, he would say, no matter how dirty/ dark your thoughts are; if the Spirit of the Lord could hover over the darkness in Genesis 1:2 He could over yours too; He is Lord over the darkness (I'll link the video here for you).

He also said, we crack true intimacy when we can turn every thought into a conversation with the Holy Spirit, every thought! (this is the video for context). There are times where I've had to tell the Lord, 'Dad, what do I do with all this horniness? where do I place it?' and the times when I'm able to surrender it to Him, He does something supernatural, but the times I keep Him from it, are the times I fall into sin.

The truth is, whatever parts of you, He's prevented from accessing are avenues where sin will be birthed. Whatever we hide from Him is where sin can dominate but if we invite Him into the good the bad the ugly parts of us, we give Him an opportunity to change our hearts, transform our lives and to align our desires with His.

I do not believe that if we have dirt or darkness in us, the Lord will stay away from us, or the Holy spirit cannot dwell in us because how else is He going to make us clean if He doesn't descend Into our mess? Even Jesus had to come down to earth to save us. (For someone reading this, I want you to know that God is not afraid of your mess, He will not condemn you, He longs to save you and cleanse you of your guilt and shame if you let Him in. I guarantee you will not regret it).

If the Holy Spirit cannot stay where there's dirt and we're all dirty, then He cannot reside in us, but the Bible says the Spirit of God lives within every believer  (1 Corinthians 3:16)

I would say however that we should not intentionally grieve the Holy Spirit of God as the word says in Ephesians 4:30. I will give an analogy my friend gave me. She likened our hearts to a room, a messy room and when we invite the Lord Jesus in, we invite Him into a messy room, a messy heart, and then the Lord begins to clean up our room (hearts) while we cooperate with Him and get to know Him while He's cleaning. 

Now imagine after cleaning up a bit, we go outside, carry garbage bring it in and dump inside the room that is being cleaned (I don't know about you but if I was the one cleaning, I would have kill a lot). Jokes aside, that's how we can frustrate His efforts and grieve the Holy Spirit. Notwithstanding, He's full of mercy and grace and is patient enough to do it all over again with us and gradually there will come a point where we begin to love the room clean. When that happens, a miracle has occured! A transformed heart that now desires what the Father desires and wants what He wants.